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Josh Gibson, an easement specialist with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, talks with local landowners Thursday night at Chatmoss Country Club about the need for conservation easements. |
Friday, December 5, 2008
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Virginia’s landscape is vanishing, according to conservationist David Perry.
About 46,000 acres of farmland in Virginia are lost to development each year, and the development of land is needed to benefit the economy, said Perry, project manager for the Western Virginia Land Trust.
At the same time, land must be preserved, he told about two dozen people who gathered Thursday night at Chatmoss Country Club to hear a program on conversation.
Farming is one reason why.
“The ability to raise food in western Virginia is going to become more and more important” as transportation costs for food trucked into the region increase, Perry said.
Also, land must be preserved for recreational purposes, such as enjoying wildlife and scenery, said Perry. That can help economic development, too, because it lures people to the region from largely urban areas, he said.
“What makes our part of the world unique is its natural beauty,” he said.
By placing conservation easements on land, people can preserve the natural, historic and scenic values of their land for future generations, said Perry and Josh Gibson, an easement specialist with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
Both organizations work with landowners to preserve land. There are many similar organizations, the men pointed out.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that works to protect land. The easement sets permanent limits on future development of the property. It can include special protections for natural resources such as streams and wildlife.
“You’re giving up your rights to develop your property to an extent,” plus the rights of anyone who might own the property in the future, such as the landowner’s children or other family members, Perry said.
Once a conservation easement has been established, a judge would have to revoke it should the need arise, said Perry. But that is unlikely, and it never has happened in Virginia, he said.
The more land someone has to preserve, especially in a rural area, the more an organization may be interested in pursuing a conservation agreement with the person. A few acres inside a city may not be of interest, Gibson indicated.
Common restrictions that conservation organizations place on landowners, based on what Perry and Gibson mentioned their organizations seek, include keeping no large piles of trash or junk on the property and having no cellular phone towers, billboards or other large signs on the land.
Perry said organizations generally do not try to restrict traditional uses of rural land, such as farming, raising cattle, hunting and fishing.
But there could be restrictions on the sizes of structures built on property, as well as restrictions on subdividing the land, which can cause more homes and/or buildings to be built, according to Perry and Gibson.
“To protect open space, properties should remain as a whole to the extent possible,” said Gibson.
An organization participating in an easement will visit the land perhaps once every year or two to make sure landowners are abiding by the restrictions, he and Perry said.
The state considers conservation easements to be much like giving a gift of land to the public. Therefore, landowners who participate in easements might qualify for significant federal and state tax incentives, Perry said.
Easements also make it harder for governments to exercise eminent domain and seize the land, he said. For instance, it would be harder to them to claim land for new roads or power line rights of way.
Landowners must pay for legal and surveying work needed, but there is no actual cost for pursuing conservation agreements, Gibson and Perry said.
Officially, that is. Perry said the land trust asks landowners to make a one-time contribution — say, $5,000, or maybe $10,000 — to its “stewardship endowment” to help the trust pursue its efforts to preserve land.
He said the foundation has no such endowment since it is a state-sponsored organization. But the foundation’s Web site shows it accepts donations from supporters of land preservation efforts. |
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